Career Services is your partner in today's competitive, global job market. With personal attention and online services available
24-7, we're here to help you through the job search process- from exploring possible fields to preparing for interviews, landing
internships to launching your professional career.

Making Connections

Simply stated, networking is relationship building. It is the process of making connections with people in order to gather information and expand your knowledge about a job, internship, career field, graduate school, and/or geographical areas.

The purpose of a network is to develop a professional support system to help you as you grow as a professional, which in turn, can help you support others in the future. It can also assist you in collecting information and resources about the job market and occupations, as well as develop job leads and referrals.

Making contacts with people can help you find a job, as most employers would rather hire someone they know or someone who was recommended by an acquaintance. Developing and maintaining positive rapport with others is an essential component of any successful internship or career search.

There are many ways to network; on this page you’ll find information about two significant sources for networking:

Informational Interviewing

One of the most effective ways to meet people in a professional field and gather information about what's happening in an occupation or an industry is to conduct an informational interview. An informational interview is a networking approach that allows you to meet key professionals, gather career information, investigate career options, get advice on job search techniques and get referrals to other professionals.

There are many good reasons to conduct an informational interview:

to explore careers and clarify your career goal

to discover employment opportunities that are not advertised

to expand your professional network

to build confidence for your job interviews

to access the most up-to-date career information

to identify your professional strengths and weaknesses

Most professionals are happy to help students with their professional pursuits, but you have to ask the right questions in the right way. The art of informational interviewing is in knowing how to balance your hidden agenda (to locate an internship or job) with the unique opportunity to learn firsthand about your chosen field. Never ask for a job, but behave respectfully and professionally, and a job may follow.

You can find more information about how to conduct an informational interview, and suggested questions to ask by reading our Informational Interview Handout.

Social Media

Why add social media as a job search strategy? According to a recent Jobvite survey, 92 percent of U.S. companies used social media to find talent -- and according to NACE's Student Survey only 41 percent of recent college grads are using social media to look for a job.

Social media can be a great tool to advance your career. In particular, it can be leveraged to find jobs and internships. With the recent explosion of social media, many companies use Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and blogs in their process of finding new talent. Likewise, job seekers can use social media to highlight their skills and stand out from other candidates.